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The federal government is set to reopen the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Wednesday, April 19th, after a six-week-long closure to repair the runway. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State for Aviation, reportedly took a test flight from the Kaduna International Airport to Abuja on Tuesday morning.

On March 8th, the Federal Ministry of Transportation closed the Abuja airport to allow repair work to commence on the defective runaway. The government’s decision came after several major foreign airlines, including Emirates Airlines and Kenyan Airways, suspended their Abuja flight services due mainly to the poor condition of the runway. The repair work reportedly cost N5.8 billion and the contract was awarded to Julius Berger.

Besides disrupting normal scheduled flights to Abuja, the closure of the airport affected businesses and industries across the Federal Capital Territory. Several hotels, restaurants, and transport companies have reportedly sacked workers and reduced operations owing to a drastic drop in patronage from travellers. In fact, Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL), an airport services group, estimated that its losses reached N80 million daily after the airport closed.

With the formal reopening of the airport tomorrow, it is expected that the nation’s domestic carriers will resume their flights to Nigeria’s capital city. Foreign airlines are also expected to resume their flight services after largely shunning the government’s alternative airport in Kaduna.

The Abuja airport is Nigeria’s second busiest airport after the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos. The airport handles over 5 million passengers per year. In December last year, the Abuja airport handled over 5,000 flights, according to Sirika.